Tuco Has As Many Sides As He Does Names. Or Crimes, For That Matter

One of my favorite scenes in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is the not so touching reunion between Tuco and his brother*. I especially like how it starts, when Tuco moves forward to embrace his brother, sees the cross or rope or whatever around his brother's robe, and hesitates, then gives a big grin and says 'I don't know the right thing.'** It's seems like an accurate statement, but Tuco probably does know the right thing, he just choose not to do it. The grin on his face as he says it is like a silly boy's, sheepish about being caught doing what he shouldn't be, and trying to charm his way out of it.

His brother's exasperated look suggests he's familiar with this tactic, and he's not entirely happy to see his brother. Of course, his brother's just come from burying one of their parents, one who was waiting for Tuco until the end, which suggests a bit of a rivalry. Maybe Tuco was the favored son, and he was the one who stayed longer (his brother left to become a priest before Tuco took up the life of a bandit).

The scene as a whole presents a different side of Tuco. We've seen the scoundrel, the schemer, the doggedly determined killer, but this reminds us he had a family, who remembers him as a different person, which isn't something we can say about Blondie or Angel Eyes. I think there's even a chance Tuco regrets some of his choices. He says that he became a bandit to avoid starving, but his road has been harder than his brother's. Which raises the question of why he chose it, the best guess being he didn't think it would be harder. If you're a criminal, you take what you want or need. What could be simpler? But whether by choice or circumstance, it's lead Tuco to the point where he hadn't seen his parents in a decade, his brother barely disguises his contempt (he still loves Tuco, but he certainly doesn't love what he does), and he's left a trail of wives behind him***. His past associates (like the guys who helped him track down Blondie) are dead. Blondie is probably the closest thing he has to a friend in the world, and they tolerate each other out of necessity.

It's a great sequence, with Eli Wallach going from goofy and playful, to concerned for his brother and family, to reflective of the time that's passed, to mocking his brother's attempts to chide him, to being direct and honest about himself. It adds a lot of depth to Tuco, makes him more than the guy who always seems to draw the short straw.

* My favorite scene is the end, from about the time Tuco rolls up against the gravestone until the credits.

** I also like the line as Tuco begins to unload on his brother. 'Yeah, and as I'm waiting for God to have mercy on my soul - I, Tuco Ramirez, brother of Brother Ramirez.' The emphasis on the second brother always gets my attention. I think it says Tuco's angry because his brother's letting their respective professions get in between them being brothers who haven't seen each other in years.

** His brother brings up the fact Tuco was married, and Tuco's response is a snarled mockery of 'Not just one, lots of them. One here, one there, wherever I could find them.' Which makes me think the first wife, the one his brother knew of, might have been important to him.